Support for putting Commission president on Parliament ballot

A Europe-wide opinion poll suggests that voter participation in the next elections to the European Parliament would be boosted if the transnational political parties were asked to put up candidates for the next president of the European Commission as part of their electoral programmes.

More than half of those responding to the poll said that they would be more likely to vote if the election of the Commission president was a feature of the campaign.

Across the EU, 15% said ‘Yes, definitely’ they would be more encouraged to vote, 39% said ‘Yes, probably’, while 12% said ‘No, definitely not’, 24% said ‘No, probably not’ and 10% said they did not know.

The question of whether or not the Parliament elections should deliver a verdict on the Commission presidency is much discussed in EU circles at present. Redressing the low turn-out at European Parliament elections – 43% in 2009 – is part of the motivation.

But some critics of the idea think that it would change the balance between the EU institutions, by giving the Commission president at least the appearance of a direct popular mandate.

Next president?

Who the candidates might be is also being talked about. The German magazine Spiegel reported this week that Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, wanted Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, to become the next Commission president.

The Lisbon treaty does not specifically require an election for the Commission president. It says that: “Taking into account the elections to the European Parliament and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall propose to the European Parliament a candidate for president of the Commission. This candidate shall be elected by the European Parliament by a majority of its component members.”

Fact File

The question posed on including candidates for the European Commission presidency in the 2014 European Parliament campaign was:

“Imagine that, at the next European elections, the major European political alliances present a candidate for the post of president of the European Commission, based on a joint programme. The citizens of every member state would therefore indirectly participate in the election of the president of the European Commission if his/her political alliances won the European elections. Would this encourage you more than at present to vote?”

At issue is what the mechanism might be for taking into account the Parliamentary elections. Before asking about the possibility of voting on the Commission president, the opinion poll found that voters were ignorant about the existing procedures. Only 26% knew that the president was appointed by the heads of state and government, and the choice was approved by the Parliament. The same number, 26%, thought that the president was elected by MEPs, 19% thought the appointment was made by the members of the Commission and 4% thought he was directly elected by EU citizens. A quarter of respondents said they did not know.

The poll was commissioned by the Parliament’s public opinion monitoring unit. Between 2 and 17 June, 26,622 citizens were interviewed face-to-face in 27 countries.

A force for good?

Among the other results, the survey found that half of EU citizens thought that their country’s membership of the EU was a good thing, 31% thought it neutral and 16% a bad thing.

But a majority of those questioned (54%) said that they felt their voice did not count in the EU.